diff --git a/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Resource/Driver/LocalDriver.php b/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Resource/Driver/LocalDriver.php
index ce533019f89a8d04c27d130a469ec926f5a2f26e..d0cce1f1840eaf7cd4b0f86c103b21018c130460 100644
--- a/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Resource/Driver/LocalDriver.php
+++ b/typo3/sysext/core/Classes/Resource/Driver/LocalDriver.php
@@ -1346,12 +1346,12 @@ class LocalDriver extends AbstractHierarchicalFilesystemDriver implements Stream
      * processing resources and money) for large files.
      *
      * @param string $fileIdentifier
-     * @return string The file contents
+     * @return string The file contents if file exists and else empty string
      */
     public function getFileContents($fileIdentifier)
     {
         $filePath = $this->getAbsolutePath($fileIdentifier);
-        return file_get_contents($filePath);
+        return is_readable($filePath) ? (string)file_get_contents($filePath) : '';
     }
 
     /**